While taxiing an aircraft along the taxiways of a large, busy airport, flight crew awareness of information about runways that cross the aircraft's taxi route may mitigate, reduce, or prevent runway incursions and accidents. This information includes the location in the taxi route, identity, and orientation of the crossing runways; runway status, e.g. in-use, occupied or not occupied by other traffic, active, closed, etc.; and whether or not the aircraft is cleared to cross the runway by air traffic control (“ATC”). Additionally, such information regarding other taxi route control points during taxi, takeoff, and landing is also of operational value. These taxi route control points may include takeoff (departure) and landing (arrival) runways, runway taxi segments, crossing taxiways, crossing roadways, land and hold short operations (“LAHSO”) runway points, taxiway hold points, and ramp hold points.
Aircraft crews currently have access to airport maps, either paper-based maps or electronic airport moving maps stored in an aircraft system. These maps depict the various labeled runways and taxiways and other features of the airport. However, these maps do not provide dynamic, real-time information about runways in or that cross the aircraft taxi route. Rather, the crew receives runway information by reviewing notices to airmen (“NOTAM”), by monitoring automated broadcasts such as automatic terminal information service (“ATIS”) broadcasts, or by monitoring ATC and other aircraft radio communications. Moreover, the traditional method of communicating ATC taxiway and runway clearances to aircraft crew is by ATC radio or light gun communication. There is currently no cockpit display of the ATC clearance information. The lack of rapid visual access to crossing, taxi, departure, and arrival runway information in the aircraft cockpit increases crew workload and reduces crew situational awareness.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the disclosure made herein is presented.